World Prison NewsPost info (IF it doesn't belong in another PTO forum) about the prison system, prisoner support, criminal justice, etc., that you learn firsthand, through the media, from an inmate, or any other source. News can be local, state, Federal, or int'l.

This sounds a lot like something yourself has always said is a bad idea.

Quote:

It may seem obvious for a lawyer to use family members’ insights in building a client’s defense. But public defenders like Saabir’s typically don’t, thanks to large and time-consuming caseloads that preclude that kind of nitty-gritty work. A model of community organizing called participatory defense seeks to compensate for that deficiency—by training non-lawyers, like Heather, on how to be effective advocates for their loved ones.

Quote:

Participants’ chief mission is to become the best courtroom supporters they can using the firsthand knowledge they have. Their work can take the form of delivering testimony at a hearing, like Heather did; soliciting letters of support from other family members, employers, doctors, and others, for the judge and lawyers to use as a reference; and even gathering actual evidence to bolster an offender’s claim of innocence.

What has been pitched in this article is very different from the families who want to do their own appellate work. Nothing in this article suggests the families are making the arguments before the court at trial. They are helping, at the direction of a licensed attorney, with grunt work like letter-gathering (which keeps them out of the attorney's way given that the letters generally do little more than filling a file).

The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to CenTexLyn For This Useful Post:

I have been very active in my son's case. The attorney asks me to do things that I can so she is free to work her legal "magic". I solicit letters of support, get copies of documents, make calls to get info, etc. Anything I can do is free & leaves her to spend her time (and our money) on the critical issues she's experienced in. I don't tell her how to do her work. I'm just an extra set of hands & feet.

Family support and the family helping a qualified attorney is great.
Family helping someone fight their own legal matter bad idea.
Same thing with a lot of Pro-Se filings and briefings. The person doing this work is not experniced in this area of law and a lot of times end up screwing their self by making simple mistakes, or by not raising the issue(s) at the first filing of the appeal.
The majority of Pro-se filers bring up issue that have been beaten to death in prior appeal by other parties. One that comes to mind right away is there
5th. amendment right.( loosing issue will not get past the clerk reading your filing) Then they try and bring up 4th amendment issues, further investigation most of the time reveals the pro-se appellant was on active probation or parole.( 4th. amendment, prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures and requires any search warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause.)killed that issue real fast .Ok enough of my ramble time to step down off my soap box and STFU.

__________________Be a friend to everyone,never know when you may need their help

Unless you really know something about the law, I think it may not be a good idea, I know you are trying to help but do you know if you are really giving the best advice to him/her if you are not an experienced lawyer, sometimes it may even make the situation worst.